Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/393898
Monday's terse orders from the court were con- tained among more than 1,500 rejected appeals that had piled up over the sum- mer. The outcome was not what either side expected or wanted. Both gay marriage supporters and opponents had asked the court to re- solve whether the Consti- tution grants same-sex cou- ples the right to marry na- tionwide. The justices did not ex- plain why they decided to leave that question unan- swered for now. They may be waiting for a federal ap- peals court to break ranks with other appellate pan- els and uphold state laws defining marriage as be- tween a man and a woman. Or they may see little role for themselves as one court after another strikes down state marriage bans. Still, the import seemed clear. What the justices did in virtual silence Mon- day "has to send a signal to the other courts of ap- peals that the Supreme Court does not think it's so wrong to allow same- sex couples to marry, and that even conservative jus- tices don't think they have a good shot at getting five votes. And that sends a message that this essen- tially is over," said Jon Da- vidson, legal director of Lambda Legal, an advo- cacy group for gay rights. Leaders of the National Organization for Marriage predicted a backlash in the form of renewed efforts to pass a constitutional amend- ment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. "The notion that the peo- ple have nothing to say about this — that unelected judges are going to decide it for us — that's preposterous," said John Eastman, the organiza- tion's chairman. However, efforts to pass such an amendment have gained little traction, even in past years when support for same-sex marriage was less robust. NOM's presi- dent, Brian Brown, acknowl- edged that any renewed ef- forts would be "long and ar- duous." The politics of gay mar- riage have shifted in the past decade. In 2004, it was a wedge issue: Republicans looking to boost turnout in the presidential election put questions of banning gay marriage before voters in nearly a dozen states. Ten years later, there are openly gay members of both the U.S. Senate and House. And two openly gay Republi- cans — Massachusetts' Rich- ard Tisei and California's Carl DeMaio — are running for House seats. Last November, the Sen- ate approved legislation that would bar workplace dis- crimination based on sex- ual orientation and gender identity. Fifty-four members of the Senate Democratic majority and 10 Republicans voted in favor of the first ma- jor gay rights bill since Con- gress repealed the ban on gays serving openly in the military four years ago. But the House, where Re- publicans have a majority they are all but certain to keep in the next Congress, has not acted on the discrim- ination measure. And the is- sue remains a touchstone for many conservatives, es- pecially those in House dis- tricts drawn to lean heavily toward the GOP. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said Monday that the fight against same-sex marriage "is over" in his state. He said that "it is clear that the position of the court of appeals at the federal level is the law of the land and we're going to go forward enacting it." But South Carolina At- torney General Alan Wil- son said he would continue to fight to uphold his state constitution's ban on gay marriage. Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, called on the high court to "finish the job" with a national rul- ing. Wolfson said the court's "delay in affirming the free- dom to marry nationwide prolongs the patchwork of state-to-state discrimina- tion and the harms and in- dignity that the denial of marriage still inflicts on too many couples in too many places." On the other side, Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, an op- ponent of same-sex mar- riage, also chastised the court for its "irresponsi- ble denial of review in the cases." Whelan said it is hard to see how the court could eventually rule in fa- vor of same-sex marriage bans after having allowed so many court decisions striking down those bans to remain in effect. Two other appeals courts, in Cincinnati and San Fran- cisco, could issue decisions any time in same-sex mar- riage cases. Judges in the Cincinnati-based 6th Cir- cuit who are weighing pro- gay marriage rulings in Ken- tucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, appeared more likely to rule in favor of state bans than did the 9th Circuit judges in San Francisco, who are considering Idaho and Nevada restrictions on mar- riage. It takes just four of the nine justices to vote to hear a case, but it takes a majority of at least five for an eventual ruling. Monday's opaque or- der did not indicate how the justices voted on whether to hear the appeals. With four justices each in the liberal and conser- vative camps and Justice Anthony Kennedy more or less in the middle, it appeared that neither side of the court wanted to take up the issue now. It also may be that Ken- nedy, with his likely de- cisive vote, did not want to rule on same-sex mar- riage now. Marriage FROMPAGE1 year. This year, the trees didn't even blossom." The Manton Apple Fes- tival Committee, which or- ganizes the yearly event, sold the 200 apple pies it brought to the event, said Joanna Ferguson, treasurer of the committee. The pies were gone by 2 p.m. Ferguson said the com- mittee could bring in sev- eral thousand dollars from the festival, money that the committee spends toward higher-education schol- arships and community needs. "As far as we're con- cerned, (the festival) is very successful," she said. This year, the commit- tee awarded four $750 scholarships with the hope of awarding more in the spring, Ferguson said. "That's our goal," she said. "To help the kids. To always help the kids." Applepieeating contest results JuniorDivision:ZoeAnthis took first place, Bailey Fer- guson earned second place and Breez Acevez nabbed third place. Senior Division: Joe Gilm- ore earned first place, Renee Cassinelli took second place and Janet Pike came in third. Apples FROM PAGE 1 ANDRE BYIK — DAILY NEWS The Team Get Er Done monster truck rolls through the main arena at the Tehama District Fairground during the West Coast Monster Truck Nationals on Saturday. West Coast Monster Truck Nationals Facebook page, organizers said the event drew its most attendees ever. Monster truck teams in- cluded Bigfoot, which made its return to the event over the weekend, Patriot, Ob- sessed, Wrongway Rick, Double Trouble, Get Er Done, King Krunch, Tropi- cal Thunder, Wicked, Nitro Hornet, Robo Machine and Captain U.S.A. Trucks FROM PAGE 1 TheAssociatedPress KLAMATH FALLS, ORE. A federal water agency is in- creasing flows in the Klam- ath River to fight a parasite attacking salmon. The U.S. Bureau of Rec- lamation says the 75 per- cent increase in releases from PacifiCorp's Iron Gate Dam near Horn- brook, California, started Saturday and will run 10 days. The utility agreed to release water from Iron Gate and other reservoirs so water does not have to be released from Up- per Klamath Lake, home to endangered sucker fish and the primary res- ervoir of a federal irriga- tion project. The idea is that stron- ger river currents make it tougher for the para- site known as Ich (IK) to swim through the water and reach the salmon. The bureau is try- ing to prevent a repeat of 2002, when the parasite killed tens of thousands of salmon during a drought. FISH Klamath River flows increased to help salmon By Juliet Williams The Associated Press SACRAMENTO Gov. Jerry Brown reported Monday that he has nearly $24 million left for his re-elec- tion campaign after spend- ing very little so far this year, and he has another $6.6 million in a commit- tee that is supporting two legislative ballot measures. In a report filed with the secretary of state's office, the Democratic governor says he has $23.6 million in the bank and has spent just $402,000 this year. The spending included about $36,000 in returned contributions between July 1 and Sept. 30. Brown spokesman Dan Newman did not immediately re- turn a call seeking details about the returned money. Brown's largest ex- penses were for campaign consultants. He is not out- wardly campaigning for his re-election, instead focusing his efforts on a pair of ballot measures he is promoting: Proposi- tion 1, which would spend $7.5 billion on a variety of water projects; and Prop- osition 2, which would strengthen California's rainy day fund. The committee for both reported having $6.6 mil- lion on hand Monday. Among its largest dona- tions are $3.8 million from the California Teachers Association and $1 mil- lion each from the Service Employees International Union and former Face- book president and Napster co-founder Sean Parker. Brown's Republican op- ponent in the governor's race, Neel Kashkari, had not yet reported his fund- raising and spending to- tals. Kashkari reported in June that he had about $200,000 remaining after a tough primary election con- test in which his campaign spent $4.4 million, includ- ing $2 million of Kashkari's own money. He has raised about $1 million since then. Campaign committees have until midnight Mon- day to report their fund- raising and spending for the period covering July 1 to Sept. 30. That includes several contested races for state- wide office, such as the challenge to incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlak- son from a fellow Demo- crat, school reformer Mar- shall Tuck. CAMPAIGN FINANCE Gov. Jerry Brown spends little, saves lots By Ellen Knickmeyer The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Califor- nia's largest utility released an email Monday saying the state's top regulator pri- vately asked the company to donate more than $1 million to support a state- backed environmental bal- lot initiative. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. also said prosecutors have informed the utility that federal authorities are in- vestigating the legality of five years of back-channel communications between PG&E and the utility com- mission. The U.S. attorney's office said it would have no comment. The email is the latest in a series released by the utility and others that al- legedly show PG&E exec- utives privately negotiat- ing with California Public Utilities Commission offi- cials on matters such as rate increases and finan- cial penalties. Consumer groups and others say the emails show too-cozy relations between the utility and regulators, and the com- mission says some of the private communications may have violated its own rules. In one email released Monday, from May 2010, former PG&E vice presi- dent Brian Cherry describes a dinner he says he had just shared with commission President Michael Peevey. "Mike stated very clearly that he expects PG&E to step up big and early" to oppose a ballot initiative that would have suspended the state's historic climate change law, Cherry says in the email to another com- pany executive. "Mike said ... we need to spend at least $1 million." Later in the same din- ner, Cherry said, he "jok- ingly" remarked that the utility could spend $3 mil- lion on the ballot initia- tive, if the utilities com- mission approved an unrelated $26 million payment that PG&E was seeking as a reward for its energy conservation pro- gram. PG&E California power regulator sought donation PHILIPR.GUNSAULS July 7, 1934 ~ October 2, 2014 Phil passed away quietly at his home on October 2. 2014 at the age of 80. Phil was born in San Bernardino, CA, the youngest of 5 children born to Earl Gunsauls and Lola Langley Gunsauls. His early years were spent in Long Beach and later in Bellflower, CA. He graduated from Excelsior High School in l952 and later that same year was married to his wife of 62 years, Doris Phillips Gunsauls. Phil was predeceased by his parents and all of his siblings, broth- ers Donald, Robert and Kenneth and his sister, Arlene Chesebro. While in High School, Phil was devoted to agriculture. He was president of his local FFA chapter, president of the Southern California Region stretching from Bakersfield to San Diego and ran on the ballot for California State Vice President. He also received the Bank of America Achievement Award for agriculture. He held the honor of Chapter Star Farmer and State Star Farmer. He has always remained true to his love of agriculture even though he later found his greatest passion in aviation. He com- menced his flying career as a crop duster and started his own company, Phil's Ag Air, which later evolved into PJ Helicopters. Phil is survived by his wife, Doris, his four sons, David (Tina), Michael (Lorna), Paul (Kerry) and Mark (Dede), 9 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren. Friends are urged to join our family in gravesides serv- ices on Friday, October 10, 2014 at Oak Hill Cemetery, Red Bluff, at 11:00 am. Also, we invite everyone to join the family for a time of refreshments and friendship at Jack Holcomb Park (Red Bluff Airport, near the adminis- tration building) immediately following the service. In memorium, Phil requested that you take a walk in the woods, or take a friend to lunch. NELLIE W. GARRETT 5/9/1927 ~ 9/29/2014 Nellie Winnie Garrett was born in Liveoak, California on May 9, 1927 to Henry and Florence Stevens. Nellie was the 4th of twelve children. She grew up caring for all of her younger siblings. On May 11, 1943, two days after her 16th birthday, she ran away to marry the love of her life, Clifford Leroy Gar- rett. They were blessed to have 64 wonderful years of marriage. Nellie is survived by her two sons, Clifford Jr. (Beverly) of Prineville Oregon, and Dale Garrett (Janet) of Red Bluff. She is survived by Grandchildren: Crystal Jones, Curtis Olson, Deidre Garrett, Darin Garrett and Natalie Bickford. Nellie is also survived by numerous great- granschildren,nieces, nephews and friends. Surviving brothers include Henry Stevens (Virginia) of Red Bluff, and Theodore Stevens (Jean) of North Carolina. Surviving sisters: Mabel Hershey of Illinois,and Gwen Ol- son (Dale) of Paynes Creek. Nellie is preceded in death by husband Clifford Garrett, granddaughter Dejon Garrett, Sisters: June Giles, Marie Gramps, and Ada Heino. Brothers: John Stevens, Doug Stevens, Ed Stevens, and Howard Stevens. Nellie loved traveling, bowling, camping, and being with family and friends. She was a homemaker who saw that each holiday was celebrated with joy, love and most of all good cooking. Her last few years were spent at the Red Bluff Healthcare Center where she was treated with compas- sion, love, respect, and dignity. A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, October 12, 2014 at 1:00 P.M. at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, located at 738 walnut St., Red Bluff California. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Dejon Garrett Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Red Bluff Union High School. Obituaries TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM |NEWS | 7 A